Is ${420858}$ divisible by $9$ ?
Answer: A number is divisible by $9$ if the sum of its digits is divisible by $9$ . [ Why? First, we can break the number up by place value: $ \begin{eqnarray} {420858}= &&{4}\cdot100000+ \\&&{2}\cdot10000+ \\&&{0}\cdot1000+ \\&&{8}\cdot100+ \\&&{5}\cdot10+ \\&&{8}\cdot1 \end{eqnarray} $ Next, we can rewrite each of the place values as $1$ plus a bunch of $9$ s: $ \begin{eqnarray} {420858}= &&{4}(99999+1)+ \\&&{2}(9999+1)+ \\&&{0}(999+1)+ \\&&{8}(99+1)+ \\&&{5}(9+1)+ \\&&{8} \end{eqnarray} $ Now if we distribute and rearrange, we get this: $ \begin{eqnarray} {420858}= &&\gray{4\cdot99999}+ \\&&\gray{2\cdot9999}+ \\&&\gray{0\cdot999}+ \\&&\gray{8\cdot99}+ \\&&\gray{5\cdot9}+ \\&& {4}+{2}+{0}+{8}+{5}+{8} \end{eqnarray} $ Any number consisting only of $9$ s is a multiple of $9$ , so the first five terms must all be multiples of $9$ That means that to figure out whether the original number is divisible by $9 $ , all we need to do is add up the digits and see if the sum is divisible by $9$ . In other words, ${420858}$ is divisible by $9$ if ${ 4}+{2}+{0}+{8}+{5}+{8}$ is divisible by $9$ Add the digits of ${420858}$ $ {4}+{2}+{0}+{8}+{5}+{8} = {27} $ If ${27}$ is divisible by $9$ , then ${420858}$ must also be divisible by $9$ ${27}$ is divisible by $9$, therefore ${420858}$ must also be divisible by $9$.